Redhawks baseball team cultivates local talent to fill roster

There is a solid local flavor to the 2010 Southeast Missouri State baseball team, a recent trend.

Six of the Redhawks' 35 players attended high schools in the Southeast Missourian's coverage area, including five returning players.

"It's always nice when there are good players from around here," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said. "They're doing a great job and I'm proud of them."

Junior third baseman Trenton Moses from Advance is the local product who saw the most action last season as he was a starter for the second consecutive year and again enters the campaign penciled into the lineup at the hot corner.

Moses batted .258 with 11 doubles, two homers and 24 RBIs as a sophomore after he made the Ohio Valley Conference all-freshmen squad in 2008.

Sophomore Kody Campbell from Oran had a solid freshman season, hitting .298 in 47 at-bats as he shared DH duties with Louie Hasletine early in the year before Haseltine got hot and kept the job for good.

Campbell led Southeast in homers during fall intrasquad play and is being counted on to provide offensive punch. He will begin the year as the starting first baseman.

Junior outfielder Blake Slattery from Central hit .077 in just 13 at-bats last year as he battled injury problems and Southeast had an abundance of talented outfielders, but Slattery saw significant playing time as a freshmen in 2008 and should challenge for more action this year.

Returning pitchers are junior Brad LaBruyere from Central and senior Kirk Boeller from Notre Dame.

LaBruyere saw significant mound time for the second straight year and went 3-1 with a 7.16 ERA to tie for second on the team in wins. He made two starts and threw a total of 32 2/3 innings.

Boeller went 1-0 with an 11.02 ERA over 16 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in his first season at Southeast.

"All those guys have really improved from last year," Hogan said. "We're counting on a lot of them to play some pretty important roles for us."

The lone local freshman on the roster is Scott City's Shae Simmons, one of the Redhawks' hardest throwers who should see early action on the mound.

"He's a gifted player. He's got a power arm," Hogan said. "We'll start him off in the bullpen, but he could turn into a starter for us."

Another Bieser

Among Southeast's freshmen is speedy outfielder Cole Bieser, a graduate of Valle Catholic High School in Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

Bieser is the son of former Southeast standout Steve Bieser, who finished at the university in 1989 and later played in 60 major league games for the Mets and Pirates in 1997 and 1998.

"I'm thrilled to have a second-generation Bieser," said Hogan, who did not coach Steve Bieser at Southeast but knows him well. "Cole is an outstanding prospect."

Two-sport athlete

An interesting first-year player for the Redhawks is infielder Derek Gibson, who redshirted as a freshman quarterback on the 2009 Southeast football team.

Hogan said Gibson, a product of North County High School in Bonne Terre, Mo., is being looked at more as a player for the future since he will rejoin the football squad for spring practice in April. But Hogan likes his potential.

"He's an exceptional athlete and a great kid. He came to us really wanting to play," Hogan said. "He'll have opportunities with us, maybe more next season and beyond, but he's definitely a guy we'll consider in the future."

Strong academics

Southeast registered a 3.318 team grade-point average during the fall semester, the highest in Hogan's 16 years as coach.

Of the 35 players on the roster, 24 earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher, including six with a perfect 4.0. Fourteen others had a 3.5 or better.

"It's a tremendous accomplishment," Hogan said. "It just shows the character of the kids. They're truly student-athletes."

Compiling a perfect 4.0 GPA were LaBruyere, Greg Dambach, Andrew Hendrian, Jim Klocke, Brennan Malham and Josh Syberg.

Home sweet home

Southeast's 55-game regular-season schedule features 28 home contests, including 12 of the Redhawks' 24 Ohio Valley Conference games.

After opening with this weekend's three-game series at Auburn of the Southeastern Conference, the Redhawks play 15 of their next 20 games at Capaha Field. That includes 11 straight at home from March 9 to 24. The home opener is set for Tuesday against Mid-Continent.

The Redhawks face four teams from major conferences for a total of 10 games. In addition to the three contests at Auburn, Southeast has a three-game series at Nebraska of the Big 12 from May 7 to 9 and a tournament at Mississippi State from March 5 to 7 that features two matchups each with the host squad of the SEC and Michigan State of the Big Ten.

Among the nonleague home highlights is a March 9 doubleheader with Missouri State, followed by a March 13 and 14 three-game series with a North Dakota squad coached by former Southeast assistant Jeff Dodson.

The nonconference schedule includes the annual home-and-home series with regional rivals Southern Illinois, Saint Louis and Arkansas State.

"I think we've again got a really attractive schedule," Hogan said.